Method and apparatus for handling molten materials



F. B. ALLEN July 4 1933.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MOLTEN MATERIALS Filed Sept. 17, 1927:5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 7M M ATT RNEYfi LQEGAGZ F. B. ALLEN METHODAND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MOLTEN MATERIALS I 5 Sheets-S heet' 2 FiledSept. 17, 1927 INVENTOR ATTZRNEYS F. B. ALLEN July 4, 1933.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MOLTEN MATERIALS Filed Sept. 17, 1927Sheets-Sheet 3 Egg INVI NTOR [5.01M

BY i AT0RNEY Patented July 4, 1933 UNITE]; STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK B.ALLEN, OF LOWER MARION TOWNSHIP, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYL- VANIA,ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ALLEN-SHERMAN-HOFF COM- PANY, OFPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA HETHODANDAPPARATUS FOR HANDLING MOLTEN MATERIALS Application filed September 17,1927. Serial No. 220,084.

This invention relates to the art of handling of molten materials. Itrelates particularly to the handling of incombustible residues includingmolten materials with or without solids which are frequently referred toas slag.

One ob ect of the invention is to provide a new and improved method ofand means for handling materials of the class described by which themolten material may be converted into small-sized, solid particles,cooled and conducted to a place of disposal quicklyand with a minimum oflabor and equipment.

Prior to my invention the handling of molten materials such as slag fromblast furnaces and powdered fuel burning furnaces and sim ilar devicesin which incombustible residues were encountered has presenteddifficulties. Often, the molten material has been tapped into a heatedladle and transported'to a place of disposal. This is an expensive andslow method; it requires more or less labor and costly equipment whichhas to be maintained in serviceable condition at considerable cost; itis dangerous to laborers and moreover in many cases,-for example moreespecially in powdered fuelburning furnaces, a consider- .able amount ofhead room must be provided beneath the combustion chamber to accom-.

modate hoppers or the like to receive the material and to accommodatecars, ladles or the like to receive such material as it is dischargedfrom the combustion chamber or hopper. Such head room is usuallyprovided by elevating the combustion chamber which means a considerablecost in the cost 'of the furnace house construction.

Another expedient resorted to, especially in powdered fuel burningfurnaces, has been to solidify the molten residues in the combustionchamber or in a hopper therebeneath and then periodically remove it.This expedient often requires considerable labor to remove the hardenedslag from the walls of the chamber to which it has adhered and break itup into pieces of such size as may be conveniently handled for disposal.The

necessity for some head room is present in such method and apparatus.

According to my improved method, the

sociated parts as heretofore were required but. results 1n a savmg ofthe head room required for the same which in turn saves the cost offurnace house construction heretofore required by such prior deviceswhich cost in many instances greatly exceeds the cost of my improvedapparatus.

In the drawings accompanying and formmg a part of this application andin which I have -illustrated one form of apparatus embodymg my inventionand in which my improved method'may be practiced Fig. 1 is a sideelevation showing one form of apparatus embodying my inventionassociated with a Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. A

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary showing of a'modified form of apparatusembodying my invention.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view, partly in section, of another form ofapparatus embodymg my invention, and,

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken'on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the particular apparatus embodying my invention and illustrated, inFigs. 1, 2 and 3, fragmentarily, a portion of the cylindrical combustionchamber 1 of a powdered fuel burning furnace having water cooled sidewalls, parts of the water tubes for one of such walls being indicated byreference character 1a in Figure 1.

The combustion chamber is provided with tangentially disposed burners soas to project the flames into the chamber and to cause a whirling of thefuel around and around in 75 powdered fuel burning furnace.

the chamber until substantially complete combustion is accomplished.During combustion the incombustible residues such as molten slag, ashand the like fall to the bottom of the chamber where they collect andwhere a quantity is allowed to solidify for the purpose of protectingthe bottom wall 11) of the chamber from the flames because of thedifliculty of efliciently cooling such wall. This accumulated andsolidified refuse is indicated at 2, while the refuse in molten or fluidform that is to be removed is indicated at 20. The chamber 1 is providedwith a spout 3 through which molten material 2a ma be tapped as and whendesired. The residue including molten material passing out through thespout 3 is permitted to fall freely from the end of the spout under theinfluence of gravity in a substantlally unbroken or continuous streamtoward a substantially horizontal sluiceway 4 which is semi-circular incross section. In the present embodiment of my invention the sluiceway 4is open at the top ad ace nt sa d spout for all its remaining length.This sluiceway 4 may be extended to the lace of disposal of the residuesas will readi y be understood, but as illustrated here it is interceptedby a transverse end wall 5 beneath which another substantiallyhorizontal slu ceway 6 is disposed at an angle to the sluiceway 4 sothat material passing along the sluiceway 4 may be intercepted by thecross wall 5 and deflected thereby into the sluiceway 6 along which itma then be moved to a place of disposal. lthough the slulceways 4 and 6are shown as substantially semicircular in cross-section they may beclrcular or may have other desired and cross-sectional configurations.

The sluiceway 6 is here shown as being d1sosed beneath the floor levelof the boiler house and does not require any extra head room and it willbe understood by those 45 skilled in the art that the sluiceway 4 may besimilarl placed below the floor level, if desired an permitted by theshape and location of the spout 3. As is shown, however, sluiceway 4 iscarried above the floor on a 59 structural framework consisting ofuprights 7 in the form of angles suitably brace by rods 8 and providedwith the necessary side walls 9 and top walls 10 which as shown may takethe form of cast iron plates. Ad- 55 jacent to the s izut 3 the sidewalls 9 are ex: tended up to a ut the level of spout 3 and in thisextended portion is provided with one or more hand holes 11 suitablycovered to permit access to the interior of the sluiceway 60 and to theend spout 3. In the end wall of the structure and sluiceway beneath thespout 3 is provided a pipe 12 having a nozzle 13 disposed to dischargefluid, and preferably water, under pressure into the interior of the o5sluiceway 4 close to the bottom thereof so as to form a fluid conveyortravelling at high velocity. When. water or other liquid is used forthis conveyor it is preferably discharged through nozzle 13 underpressures ranging from about to 130 pounds pressure per square inchdepending on the nature and amount of residues to be handled and thelength of the sluiceway. When long sluiceways are used more than onenozzle similar to nozzle 13 may be employed. Also at the end wall isprovided another pipe 14 having one or more nozzles 15 through whichfluid-under pressure may be discharged inthe form of a jet of a widthequal to or "greater than the width of the stream of material flowingthrough the spout 3 and directed at an angle to the direction of thestream so as to intercept it. The pressure employed in nozzle 15 may bethe same as that in nozzle 13 but usually is much less since it servesto break up the material into globules while the fluid from nozzle 13serves to transport the material considerable distances.

In operation the residues of combustion in the combustion chamber areaccumulated over a considerable period of time, for example, for severalhours, and maintained in a more or less molten condition, that is, allthe material may be molten or only a part of it with the unmelted partmixed therewith. Periodically this refuse is tapped out through thespout 3 and is permitted to fall freely in a stream toward the sluiceway4. As it flows from the spout in a more or less continuous stream, jetsof fluid under high pressure are delivered from nozzles 15 thereagainst,the stream being'diverted thereby from its more or less vertical course,widened laterally with consequent thinning and is broken up into smallglobules with much of it being drawn out into fine threads which arepartly cooled. The material consisting of these globules and threads andany solids that may be mixed therewith are received on the swiftlymoving fluid conveyor formed in sluiceway 4 by the fluid dischargedunder high pressure from the nozzle 13, they are congealed, and all thematerial is rapidly cooled and transported along sluiceway 4 and intocontact with the cross wall 5 which breaks it up into small pieces anddeflects it down into sluiceway 6 where a fluid conveyor similar to thatformed by the fluid discharged from jets 13 conducts it to a place ofdisposal at which time its temperature has been reduced approximately toor below 200 F. This cooled refuse material may then be used for fill ordelivered to cars for transportation to a place of final disposal.

As the flow of slag from the furnace decreases, the stream often tendsto solidify in or just below the spout. Such solidifying material may bedetached from the spout and let fall into the sluiceway 4 where it willbe tappe shattered into small pieces when it strikes cross wall 5.

It is often desirable to have more than one tap hole and spout forwithdrawing slag from a furnace and accordingly I have shown in Figures4 and 5 two alternative arrangements for such purpose.

In Figure 4, the furnace has two spouts 21 and 21a on opposite sides ofthe furnace. Spout 21 discharges into a sluiceway 22 corresponding tosluiceway 4 of Figure 1. Spout 21a discharges slag in the oppositedirection, the slag being intercepted and diverted by jets 23, and indisintegrated form or in the form of globules and threads is received ona fluid conveyor in a suiceway 24 which maybe a continuation ofsluiceway 22. The sluiceway 22 may discharge into a sluiceway such as 6after contacting with a wall such as 5.

In Figures 5 and 6 the furnace has several s outs 31 through which .slagmay be Jets 32 of considerable pressure disintegrate and divert the slagback under the furnace andjets 33, if needed, may be used to assistwater from jets 32 to carry the slag along sluiceways 34. Obstructingwalls 35 similar to wall 5 are provided to break up the globularandthread-like slag and divert it into sluiceway 36 which resemblessluiceway 6 of Figure 1. The burners of furnace 30 are shown at 37.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an extremely simple andexpeditious method of handling the molten and/or solid residue ofcombustion which has heretofore been attended with considerabledifiiculty and danger; and also that my improved apparatus for handlingsuch material is simple to construct and easy to operate with a minimumof labor since it is accomplished almost entirely by fluid underpressure, and which, due to its construction and its lack of movingmechanical parts requires substantially no maintenance.

Having thus described my invention so that those skilled in the artmaybe enabled to practice the same what I desire to secure by LettersPatent is defined in what is claimed.

' What is claimed is:

1. The method of handling incombustible residues of combustion includingmolten material which comprises collecting such materials during aconsiderable period of combustion, periodically withdrawing suchcollected materials and permitting them to fall freely in asubstantially continuous or unbroken stream, impinging a jet of liquidunder pressure against the said stream thereby widening laterally andthinnmg the stream and breaking up the molten material into globules,directing a second jet of liquid under pressure into said first namedjet, causing the material to strike an abutment breaking the globulesand then receivin said material on a rapidly moving liqui jet conveyorthereby further cooling and conducting the material to a place ofdisposal.

2. Apparatus for handling molten residues resulting from the combustionof fuel which comprises in combination, means for collecting suchmaterial and maintaining it in a molten condition, means for withdrawingper'iodically such molten material in a stream, means for dischargingliquid under pressure against a stream of the molten material in amanner to divide the stream of material into globules and threads in apartly cooled condition, means including a. second high pressure liquidstream directed into said first named liquid stream and an abutment forfurther cooling and breaking up the said partly cooled material into afinely divided condition, and means for conveying said material to aplace of final disposal including a swiftly moving fluid conveyor.

3. A method of handling viscous molten material resulting from thecombuston of fuel comprising collecting the material during aconsiderable period of combustion, periodically permitting the materialto fall in a stream, directing a high velocity stream of liquid againstsaid falling stream of molten material to form partly congealed globulesand threads of said molten material, d'recting a second high velocitystream of liquid into said first named high velocity stream, breakingsaid globules and threads into smaller particles by mpact with anabutment and conveying them to a place of disposal.

4. A method of handling viscous molten material resulting from thecombustion of fuel comprising collecting the material dur-' ing aconsiderable period of combustion, periodically permitting the materialto fall in a stream, directing a high velocity stream of liquid againstsaid falling stream of molten material to form partly congealed globulesand threads of said molten material, directing a second stream of highvelocity liquid into said first named stream of high velocity liquid,further cooling said molten material in said second stream of highvelocity liquid, and threads into smaller particles by impact with anabutment and conveying them to a place of disposal.

5. A method of handling viscous material resulting from the combustionof fuel which comprises flowing the material in a stream, dividing thestream hydraulically into globules and threads and congealing the samein a series of successively impinging jets of-liquid, reducing thecongealed material to a finely divided condition by impact against anabutment and conveying the material to a place of disposal.

6. A method of handling molten material resulting from the combustion offuel comprising directing a high velocity stream of inst a fallingstream of said molten whereby said material is divided into aledglobules and threads, conveying sai material in a second high velocitystream of liquid and further breaking up said partly congealed material.

7. A method of handling viscous molten from the combustion of materialresulting fuel which comprises flowing such materlal in a stream,directing a et of liquid under pressure into the stream and therebydividing the stream into globules and threads and partly congealing thesame, further cooling the divided particles of material in a secondswiftly moving jet of liquid and reducing all of such material to afinely divided condition by impact against an abutment.

- 8. Apparatus for handling molten 11100111 liquid materia partly conbustible material resulting from the combustion of fuel which comprisesin combination means for collecting and maintaining molten the saidmaterial, means for periodically withdrawin the molten material in astream, means for irecting a jet of liquid against said stream of moltenmaterial for breaking up the molten material into partly congealedparticles and continuing the movement of the material, an abutment,means including a second high pressure stream of liquid directed intothe path of said first named jet of liquid for further cooling saidmaterial and causing it to strike said abutment, and means forconducting the broken particles to a place of disposal.

9. Apparatus for handling molten residues resulting from combustionwhich includes in combination, means for collecting such moltenresidues, means for withdrawing such molten residues in a stream, meansfor discharging liquid under ressure against the stream of the moltenresidues in a manner to divide the stream into lobules and threads in apartly cooled condition, means, includin a second hi h pressure liquidstream directe into said rst named liquid stream and an abutment, forfurther cooling and breaking up the said partly cooled material intofinely divided condition, and means, including a swiftly moving fluideonve or, for conveying said material to a place 0 disposal.

10. Apparatus for handling molten material which includes incombination, means for caus'ng said molten material to flow in a stream,means for directing a jet of liquid against said stream of moltenmaterial for breaking up the molten-material into partly congealedparticles and continuing the movement of the material, an abutment,means including a second high pressure stream of liquid directed intothe path' of said first named jet of liquid for further cooling saidmaterial and causing it to strike said abutment and means for conductingthe broken particles to a place of disposal.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature this 12th day ofSeptember, 1927.

F ANK B. ALLEN.

